


My name

by Mullk6



Series: Amnesiac Hero [2]
Category: One Piece, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: ASL Brothers, Ace Lives, Amnesia, Dimension Travel, Don’t copy to another site, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kamino, Kidnapping, Portgas D. Ace Lives, Suicidal Thoughts, Temporary Amnesia, What-If, it doesn't go that well, my attempt at humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-02-10 11:07:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18659197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mullk6/pseuds/Mullk6
Summary: Instead of the USJ incident, the LoV captured Spade a week before the Training Camp incident. It doesn't change much, in the end, but All for One really should have thought it through when he let Shiragaki kidnap both Spade, Bakugou... and Monkey D. Luffy.Once again, villains are the reason Ace regains his memories.(Basically, a what-if scenario from "Show me how to lie")





	1. ...is worthless like you told me I once was

”Where are you going?”

”To sit beside the kid because he's _LESS IRRITATING THAN ALL OF YOU_!!!”

For once, Katsuki wasn't the one exploding at someone. Not that he hadn't done so already, plenty of times. No, this time, it was someone else in this fucking hellhole. And that someone had just thrown himself onto the ground beside the captive UA student.

It took a moment, but Katsuki recognized the sort-of villain beside him. And he said sort-of, because Spade had never been that much of a villain, ever since he'd first popped up.

He'd had to listen to Deku's analysis on the weirdo way too many times.

Question was what the fuck the dude was doing _here_. With _the League of Villains._

“Fucking idiots.”

Bakugou focused on the ravenette who was ruffling his own hair in irritation, head tilted back, eyes closed and frown creasing the Spade face-paint. It looked old. The guy also looked like ha hadn't showered in a while. Or changed clothes. Weird.

Suspicious.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes at the sort-of villain. There was something going on here.

Spade opened his eyes, as if sensing his thoughts “I know what you're thinking, and no, I _haven't_ showered in a week.”

The boy snorted reluctantly “Why?” he asked.

Hey, he was bored, ok? And this guy wasn't that bad.

Spade sighed “Unlike all these other idiots, I don't actually wanna be here, so we're kinda in the same spot, you an' I.”

Bakugo had a hard time believing that, seeing as Spade was free to walk around and he wasn't.

The raven-haired man must've figured his train of thought, since he snorted “I might not be strapped down but as soon as I try stepping out of that door,” the sort-of villain explained, gesturing at said door “the portal freak drags me back. Again. And again. And again.” Spade's expression got darker at each repeat, his arm falling back on top of his knee “And worst of fucking all...” the other continued, tilting his head back, closing his eyes once again...

“I'm starting to lose the little I've managed to remember... I think I was about to remember someone calling for me when they...” the villain let out a gusty sigh, opening his eyes again “I wonder... what's my name?”

Katsuki clenched his fists as his eyes widened at the revelation. He didn't have a chance to respond when Spade suddenly fell asleep next to him. Turning away, he clenched his teeth.

So. Spade was amnesiac, huh.

Question was, were these bastards actively trying to prevent him from remembering so that he'd join them, or were they unaware of that shit.

Spade woke up to the sound of arguing. Or, yelling, to be more accurate.

It seemed like Handsy-Mc-Scratchypants had tried to convince Explodyboy to join. It hadn't ended well, from the looks of it. And then-

Knock knock “Pizza delivery.”

The wall caved in.

The fiery villain wasted no time in grabbing the kid and shielding him from stray debris. Looking over his shoulder even as the kid struggled against him told him exactly what was happening.

Heroes.

More specifically, All Might.

As soon as rubble stopped flying around, the fire user let go of the blond firecracker, stepping away as the tendril of wood tried and failed to capture him.

It was a physical attack, and, therefore, completely useless against him.

Spade had learned the limits of his body a while ago and even though he was running on little energy, his body wouldn't be solid for anyone to hit.

It took effort to be solid, unlike with other people with even remotely similar powers.

Spade had a difficult time calling them quirks, maybe due to the fact that he didn't have memories of them being called that from his childhood.

“I've only just begun to gather comrades... nonsense... this is just the beginning. Kurog-!”

“ _WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!_ ” he finally snapped, just as the portal bastard slumped over due to the paper guy, who was also useless against him.

As everyone's attention turned to him, someone decided to idiotically ask “Hey, how come you're still free?”

Spade didn't bother to find out who said it, but answered anyway “He's wood, he's paper and physical attacks don't work on me.” the fire user deadpanned, having pointed at the two heroes he was talking about “I only stayed because Portal Freak would have dragged me back _anyway_ but now that he's out I can't leave because _someone_ ,” at this point he glared daggers at Handsy “kidnapped a kid and tried to get him, too, to join you. Which was the stupidest idea ever since it _didn't fucking work with me._ Dumbass.” he drew in a large breath, before letting it out in a gusty sigh “And I don't have the energy to even try and fight my way outta here because you have been _fucking starving me for seven days_.” stunned silence “To be honest, I was starting to contemplate drowning myself in the _fucking sink._ ”

All Might was the one to speak next “That's morbid, young Spade.”

Said villain just glanced his way before saying “Your _face_ is morbid.”

And then black sludge exploded from nowhere. As soon as it started crawling up his legs, the fire villain shrieked “ _No_! Leave me _alone_!” while trying and failing to escape it.

None of the heroes wanted to admit it, but Spade's enraged and terrified screams would haunt them for a long time.


	2. ...is empty cause you drained away the love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle of Kamino truly starts.
> 
> Observation Haki is very confusing, especially when you can't recall the name, use or existence of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, but to the point.

Spade hacked as the sludge deposited him on a different surface than the bar floor. Once he got his breathing under some semblance of control, he took a look around.

He immediately regretted it.

Somehow, for the first time since he'd first been taken to see that eyeless weirdo, he saw flashes of forgotten scenes overlapping what was truly in front of him.

Rubble, bodies, water, ships. Two out of four were actually present, while the last two were only visible to him with his fractured, imperfect recall.

Unbidden, a word came to his lips, his mind sluggish.

“Marineford...”

Though the name came to him, he didn't truly understand what it was. He only knew that he'd known it, before.

Slowly, painstakingly slowly, Spade stumbled to his feet, barely catching sight of something red before dust obstructed it again.

This place... was bad.

His chest hurt.

His arms were empty.

He was missing something.

He barely registered the eyeless weirdo not being hooked up to any machines, but he did manage to understand what the man was saying. He was Handsy's enabler. It should have disgusted him. Given him the creeps. But...

_A beat up, crying kid in a straw hat that didn't fit him._

_“Being alone hurts more than being hurt.”_

It... looked... like...

_“Do you want me to live?”_

Like something familiar.

Before he could think on it further, he sidestepped the incoming projectile that was All Might. The resulting shockwave from the Hero and Villain clashing threw everyone back and caused a dust cloud to rise. All but Spade were blown away, due to the nature of his power.

Going by the dialogue, these two were old acquaintances. Enemies. Whatever. There was no mistaking the tone of All Might's voice.

The tone... of _hate._

“I won't make the same mistake I did years ago... I'll take back young Bakugou and Monkey... and this time, I'll throw you in prison for sure!”

Spade's brain stalled. These guys had taken two students? Where the hell was the other one, then?

“Now, where is young Monkey?!” All Might demanded, proving that Spade _hadn't_ missed another hostage at the bar.

The eyeless creep shrugged, never losing his devil may care attitude “Oh, around. With his quirk, I'm sure he's still alive. I didn't have time to take it for myself yet. A body made of rubber, now _that_ would be perfect when going against you...”

Rubber...

_“What a useless power!”_

_“It is not!!!”_

Spade hunched over, grabbing his head in pain even as the two powers clashed again. He barely came back to himself in time to stop the faceless freak from using his tendrils to forcefully activate warp-gate freak's quir-

How did he know that?

Spade had little time to dwell on the flash of actions not yet taken as he threw a wall of fire between the freak and his posse. These guys weren't going _anywhere._

The fire-powered young adult snarled as he lit up, finding enough strength against these scum to attack them with a ferocity he could never have managed against the heroes that came to rescue the kids “If you think I'm letting you slink away, think again! Even if I die tonight, _I'm taking all of you with me!!!_ ”

Somewhere under the rubble, a 15-year-old former pirate captain twitched, reacting to a familiar sound, one he'd never be able to forget.

Somewhere in the air, the first news helicopter made its appearance, before any of its kind. Inside, the reporter gasped at the sight of familiar flames, wielded by a familiar face.

All for One had no idea what he had just set into motion.


	3. ...is searching since you stole my only soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spade is impressed and so glad he didn't follow his first instinct of shooting the three reckless idiots out of the sky. Now he can cut loose.
> 
> He cuts loose for real not even five minutes after the quartet left when he has righteous fury burning through his veins.
> 
> Hell hath no fury like an overprotective Fire Logia Big Brother.

Midoriya was frantically trying to think of a way to save Kacchan safely. The only positive at the moment was that Spade was on his own side and that side was against the League of Villains. However, neither All Might nor the barely-a-Villain could go all out with Kacchan so close to the fight. Spade was also occupied with keeping All for One away from Kurogiri, though how the Flame Quirked man had figured out what those tendrils did was beyond the greenette at the moment.

_And there was still no sign of Luffy-san!_

Just thinking about the rubber-boy made the ninth holder of One for All flinch, since one of the last things the ravenette had said to him was...

_“You really need to stop breaking whenever you use your power. You can't protect anyone if you can't move, 'Zuku!”_

But there was no time to wait for their rubber-quirked classmate to turn up! They had to act fast-  
and suddenly, Izuku knew exactly how to get them all out of there.

Hopefully, Spade wouldn't shoot them out of the sky.

Spade _almost_ shot the three daredevils out of the sky, but managed not to, instead focusing on the villains. With explodyboy out of the way, he could _really cut loose._

Magnet guy went down first, then the bag of marbles. Toady had been down for a while now and Spade had just sent a torrent of flame at the bloody banshee when a pile of rubble behind No-face shifted and fell apart, revealing a scratched up, dirty kid in a yellow vest, blue shorts and what Spade automatically assumed to be a straw hat hanging around his neck, even though he could only see the string.

His brain stalled.

Everyone else stalled.

Spade straightened up from his battle-stance, brow furrowed.

All Might lunged towards the kid “Young Monke-!” he choked as he was once again thrown away.

_-a chaotic battlefield, everyone fighting for him, because of him-_

-a destroyed warehouse of a battlefield, everyone fighting for two kids, because of two kids-

_-a man in a suit and a white Justice coat, taunting him, taunting his father!-_

-a man in a suit, taunting All Might, taunting his predecessor-

_-a fist of magma, heading **straight for his little brother**!-_

-a normal hand, gripped around his little brother's throat, holding him off the ground-

As if in a trance, Ace lifted his hands, arms, sending out thousands of green balls of light, causing everyone to once again pause.

Words long forgotten, _words he'd said only minutes ago_ , fell from his lips “Hotarubi...”

The orbs glowed brighter, as the Fire Logia raised his head, meeting eyes the same shade as his own, glowing with an emotion he hadn't felt in a while _had felt only moments before_ -

“Hidaruma.”

Flames exploded, burning only what their maker wished them to. The black facepaint shriveled and peeled, disintegrating from the heat and revealing the enraged face of the Whitebeard 2nd Division Commander.

He didn't need to look to know that he'd just taken out the other lackeys, including Handsy. All he _could_ look at was the falling figure that rolled as far away as he could with his limbs being unable to support him, away from the man who'd been holding him and who was now nursing a slowly healing third degree burn.

“Those movements... it seems you broke through my Memory Lock, Spade.” the jerk with no face, All for One, said idly, as if fascinated by the development.

The Fire Logia scowled. So, he'd been right, the bastard had been the reason his recall had just stopped and vanished suddenly after he'd been taken by the League. Good to know.

_All the more reason to **hate** him._

“You knew I didn't have the answer when you asked where I got the scar on my chest.” Ace spoke up, his voice ringing in the sudden silence All for One's statement had created “When you tried to make me believe it had to be due to heroes.”

His little brother, who was behind All Might, looked at him in shock as tears pooled in his eyes. His mouth was open, but no sound would escape.

The former Captain of the Spade Pirates clenched his fists, letting them burst into flames as he took a menacing step toward the bastard that was the cause of most of his suffering in this world “You still wanna know, ya damn bastard?”

All Might was paying only minimal attention to the exchange as he knelt beside his student, who was looking at Spade as if he was afraid that he'd disappear any moment, which was confusing to Toshinori “Young Monkey, we need to get you out of here now-”

“Ace...”

The #1 Hero froze at the shaky exhale of a word, no, _name_ that came from his battered and weakened student. His student who was crying.

Toshinori had never seen the boy cry before. Not even after the USJ incident when the boy felt guilty over the fact that he couldn't keep young Midoriya from breaking his body again. Not when the boy had stared at the broken form of Aizawa as he was wheeled away.

Not even then.

“I got this scar...”

But now... now, while looking at a suspected amnesiac villain, young Monkey was crying... while calling a name he'd never even mentioned before.

“...because, at that time...”

It couldn't be...

“Luffy was behind me.”

Toshinori turned to look at Spade just in time to see the young man light up with even more flames as he confirmed what many were already thinking-

“And I won't let you lay another finger on **_my little brother!_** ”

All for One was swallowed by an inferno.


	4. ...is hatred and the reasons we both know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight goes on. It gets worse before it gets better. So, so much better.  
> Even the world's most powerful villain can't stand up against 16 Commanders.  
> Another amnesia case bites the dust.

The rapidly heated air expanded significantly, causing All Might and Luffy to almost be blown away. The blond hero raised an arm to shield his face from the heat, before dimly realizing that the flames that were getting closer and closer weren't nearly as hot as they should be.

And yet, when the raging inferno subsided, All for One was looking worse for wear, meaning the flames should have been much hotter than what they could feel.

Young Spa- Young Ace, who was crouched in a battle-stance, explained before anyone could question the phenomenon “I can control what I burn. The moment I became fire I swore I would never let it hurt anything I held dear. Not after the Terminal Fire.”

It seemed like he was explaining this more to All Might than anyone else, though perhaps he was also trying to show All for One exactly why he would never join his side.

Flames rose from the young man's shoulders, causing his hair to move from the minor currents the heat was creating and Toshinori realized how good his control had to be, if he was this enraged and wasn't burning anything but All for One “I can still remember the burns Luffy got that night... so I swore Luffy wouldn't have to be afraid of fire anymore.”

The fire-user shifted, before taking a different stance, forming finger guns and shooting small balls of flame from them, rapid-fire like a machinegun. All for One was forced to dodge, lest he suffer more burns than he already sported.

Spa- Ace seemed to have the villain on the defense, but All Might knew it wouldn't last.

It couldn't last.

All for One had lived too long for a mere child to defeat him.

Unfortunately, the previous holder of One for All was correct and it didn't take long for the tables to turn. The quirk-stealing monster soon dredged up a quirk suited to fight young Spa- Ace. The boy was forced to dodge spikes of ice that grew forth from the villain, who laughed at the turnabout.

Meanwhile, all the Symbol of Peace could do, with his rapidly flagging strength, was protect his student.

Young Ace was dodging more than he was attacking now, and All Might realized why. He could not go all out with all of the unconscious villains strewn around, not to mention his little brother and All Might himself. For the first time in a long time... Toshinori was the one in the way.

Before he had time to react to a barrage of ice All for One threw in his direction to force the young fire user their way to try and block it, possibly injuring himself severely, a heavy mass landed in between them and the ice.

The previous amnesiac audibly skid to a halt, almost drowned by a sound similar to glass breaking. But it wasn't glass that was breaking, it was ice. The sub-zero water cracked into tiny pieces as it hit a material much harder than itself but just as sparkly.

Diamond.

A hero, part of one of the biggest Hero Agencies in the world, stood as an unbreakable barrier between All for One and All Might and his student.

The blond was thankful, but also confused. The Whitebeards had volunteered to help evacuation, not fighting. Furthermore....

“Diamond Commander! Why are you here? You weren't even on the roster tonight!”

The man who could turn his skin into diamond, much like young Kirishima and Tetsutetsu could harden their skin, glanced at him briefly, before turning to block them fully once again, hitting his fist into his hand “Captain's orders. As soon as he saw the news, Pops ordered all Commanders to back up the 2nd Division Commander.”

Toshinori started to nod, only to pause. Wait a second-

“But there _is_ no-”

His protest was drowned out by the sound of a bird call as the sky was lit by blue and yellow flames.

It was the 1st Divison Commander...

“Phoenix!”

Instead of guarding, the somewhat Underground Hero joined the fray, attacking All for One with flying kicks as he partly transformed back into a human, proudly displaying the tattoo on his chest and his face looking furious even under the blue and yellow wrestler mask, brushing off all injuries that were inflicted upon him.

Looking around, All Might spotted more and more of the 15 Commanders emerging to either protect the civilians still scattered around, tending to the unconscious and injured heroes, carting off the unconscious villains... and attacking All for One.

The Neutral Hero: Kabuki. 16th Division Commander of the Whitebeards. None could tell their gender, though they wore a traditionally Japanese female Kimono, their face obstructed by a white, featureless mask that looked like porcelain but was most likely something much sturdier, mostly using guns and fans to fight.

The Cheffy Hero: Double Edge. 4th Division Commander of the Whitebeards. Known for fighting in a chef's outfit with two swords, often came out of the fight without a speck of dirt on the white clothes. No one knew how he did it.

The Underwater Hero: Amphibi. 8th Division Commander of the Whitebeards. A hero specialized in underwater rescue work due to his mutation type quirk of being very fish-like. On very friendly terms with a Hero with a similar Quirk; Knight of the Sea, Jinbe.

He could list them all, but he was still stuck on what Diamond Commander had said.

“There are only 15 Commanders! Of which it seems only 14 are present.” the Symbol of Peace burst out, gathering his student in his arms in preparation to get him somewhere safe now that he had cover.

Double Edge, who'd been pushed back and skid to a halt not even two feet from him, let out a bright laugh “Haruta's up there.” he said, pointing up to one of the news helicopters “It's how we even knew to come. As for the 2nd Division Commander...” the 4th Division Commander pointed to-

Toshinori's eyes widened as he watched, as if in slow motion, the finger coming to rest on the scarred back of-

“He's been fighting for the last ten minutes to save his brother. Just like back then. Just like Marineford. Just like that day... when he died in Luffy's arms... or so everyone thought.”

Now that he looked, All Might could see it. The way they moved in tandem and around each others attacks. Even after what must have been at least three years of absence. 

Three years of grieving for the Whitebeards and young Monkey. Three years of amnesia and searching for young Ace.

“Our 2nd Division Commander... known by his signature move-”

The fire user reared back his fist, shouting over the explanation “Hiken!”

Illuminated by those flames, All Might saw the wide smile on the 4th Division Commander's face.

“Yeah. That's Ace. That's our little brother.”

Ignoring his student reaching out to the far-away Whitebeard Commander and weakly calling out the young man's name, the Symbol of Peace turned away and ran towards a medic, any medic. He would not forgive himself if young Monkey got even more hurt because he was too distracted by this shocking revelation.

As All Might let others fight his battle for him, all he could think of was how this was a rather fitting ending for him. The embers of One for All inside him were dwindling fast and would go out by the end of the day.

The life of Fire Fist, however, had been re-kindled, as had been the hope of seventeen people.

This was enough. This was plenty enough for him.

A few moments previous, in another part of the country, a blond man took a look at the screen of the break room television when the reporter started to almost hysterically babble, the name he kept repeating tickling at the back of his mind.

As soon as he saw the footage from the news chopper's camera, he froze. Then he started hyperventilating, then crying, before screaming as he once again regained memories long lost.

As his colleagues swarmed him as he fell to the floor, losing consciousness, all he could think of was.

_I cannot believe this is happening to me twice._


	5. I don’t need a gun to take back what’s mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two brothers reunite.  
> It's over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter of this "What if"-scenario! And I drew [Marco's Hero outfit!](https://mullk6.tumblr.com/image/185706744642)

Kamino General Hospital.

Normally, the name of such an establishment would not cause such a heavy feeling of guilt. But this was the effect it had on one Midoriya Izuku. This was due to one of the patients admitted to the hospital. One Monkey D. Luffy.

Sure, the rescue had gone as planned. But then almost immediately after they'd gotten to a safe distance with Kacchan, one of the giant screens had shown that they'd left someone behind. Luffy-san had crawled out from under the rubble, looking much worse for wear than his childhood friend. Even before then, the ninth holder of One for All had been enraptured by the sound of a reporter from one of the news choppers becoming almost hysterical, their voice washing over the people gathered under the screen.

“Oh my god. It's Ace! Ace is alive! You damn Fire Logia where have you been! Call Oyaji! Didn't you hear me?! Ace is _alive_!!!”

It hadn't taken long for him to realize the identity of the reporter. Haruta, the 12th Division Commander of the Whitebeard Hero Agency. To be more specific, the head of the Media and Information Division. Izuku was really knowledgeable of the agency due to the fact that most of their Quirks were unknown and many of the employed heroes, Division Commanders included, actually fought quirkless.

It had given his Quirkless self hope that one day he, too, could become a hero.

All Might had taken Luffy-san away from the battle. His classmate hadn't needed surgery, but it had still taken a while before any of them, Iida, Yayoruzu, Kirishima, Todoroki and himself, were allowed to see him. Even Kacchan had stuck around. When they were finally allowed to visit the rubber boy, the explosive teen stayed outside, grumbling about not wanting to see the rubber bastard and not being his friend.

He still didn't leave, though negating some of the heat he was spewing. Not that anyone felt like calling him out on it.

The first thing Izuku noticed was that very little of Luffy-san's skin was showing. Much of him was covered in bandages. The next thing he noticed was that the other teen hadn't acknowledged their presence, or moved his gaze from where it was glued tot he ceiling. And thirdly... Luffy-san was not smiling. And he wasn't even wearing his serious face. No, this was...

Blank.

Lifeless.

Void.

None of them had seen Luffy-san like this. Even at USJ he'd been full of life, even when he stopped smiling. 

But this-

This was... bad.

“Luffy-san?” Izuku tentatively asked, walking closer, hoping against all reason that maybe he'd snap out of it.

He didn't.

But at least he reacted “It's the same...”

Iida adjusted his glasses, obviously unnerved by their classmate's strange behaviour “Pardon?”

Luffy-san inhaled shakily, something Izuku recognized from his own life to know Luffy-san was about to cry.

Luffy-san didn't cry, period. This made the greenette even more worried.

“It's the same... same as Impel Down. Same as Marineford. All I had to do was save him... I just had to save him... but instead I- instead I-” the ravenette choked, tears starting to stream down his cheeks, hands clenched in the sheets tight enough for them to tremble.

“I thought- I was strong enough- and I had- Iva-chan and Jinbe and the scissors guy- I thought I could- we were- almost-” the rubber boy was shaking now, sobbing as he spoke.

“B-but- in front- of- my eyes-” Luffy-san choked “Because I- because I-!”

“I'M _WEAK!_ ”

Before any of them could react to the wail, the door opened with great force, a black and yellow figure striding past all of them and heading straight for their crying classmate.

Before Kirishima could do much more than exclaim “Hey, wait a minute-!” the suddenly more familiar figure had already grabbed Luffy-san and-

wrapped his arms around the wailing teen, Luffy-san burying his face in the yellow-clad shoulder as the older raven rested one hand in the younger's black tresses and the other firmly around his back.

“Idiot. Who asked you to come and rescue me.” the flame-quirked minor villain said, frowning even as his voice lacked heat and his hands stayed oh-so-gentle as he sat on the edge of the hospital bed.

Izuku flinched, ready to react when a tired voice piped from the doorway “Leave them be, yoi.”

Turning, the UA students came face-to-face with a blond man wearing a blue and yellow wrestling mask covering half his face, a purple open jacket, black pants that cut off halfway down his shins, a belt made out of golden rings that made no sound and sandals that wound up his legs.

Izuku recognized him immediately “[Phoenix-pro!](https://mullk6.tumblr.com/image/185706744642)”

The man's lips quirked as he pushed himself upright, jerking his chin at the sort-of-villain “Don't mind him. If nothing else, he's with me.”

Izuku turned to look at the two again, still feeling indecisive. Luffy-san had wound his arms around the villain's middle, too wounded to stretch as he usually would, and Izuku knew, he'd received many hugs from his classmate.

The villain spoke again, voice much softer than it had been a mere moment ago “You're still a kid, dumbass. Of course you're weak. That just means you gotta train. No one expects you to be strong yet... least of all me.”

Izuku opened his mouth , to say what, he'd never know, since he was cut off by a teary voice from the injured teen.

“Ace...”

The ninth holder of One for All froze. He knew that name. More importantly, he knew what that name meant to Luffy. After they'd been made aware of why Kota disliked heroes, Luffy had said only one thing.

_“At least he didn't have to see it.”_

He'd asked him to elaborate. Izuku had asked Luffy to elaborate thought he'd regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth. Because...

_“Right in front of my eyes... Ace was killed... and I was alone.”_

_“My only brother... because I was...”_

Weak.

Here, in front of them, sat the reason Luffy kept wanting to get stronger. The person Luffy had thought he lost. Izuku flinched at the feel of someone's hand on his shoulder and turned to see Todoroki looking at him. Guessing what he wanted, the green-haired teen shot one last look at hteir injured classmate before following the others out of the room.

The brothers needed privacy. He wasn't sure what the story behind Spa- Ace's villainy was, but Izuku hoped that Luffy hadn't gotten his brother back just to lose him again.


End file.
